Stephanie Courtney as Flo

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer brings news from People Magazine.

We, in turn, bring news from The Post-Intelligencer that Criss Angel is finding solace from the slings and arrows launched by theatre critics in the arms of Hugh Heffner’s former girlfriend.

Dean Gunnarson - Amazing

World-Famous Escape Artist, Dean Gunnarson is not normal.

Rather, he is nuts.

He performs an escape attempt each Halloween as a tribute to Houdini.  The escapes are never easy and rarely safe, but always the subject of great media attention.

Performing escape attempts that combine high risk and great difficulty is sure bet for unexpected and tragic results.  Perhaps that is why the press follows each attempt so closely.

Quoth Houdini: No one wants to see someone die, but they want to be there if it happens.

A quarter century ago, Mr. Gunnarson came with in a breath or two of losing his life in an underwater escape dedicated to Houdini.

Shintarou Huziyama Performs for Press

It is not over until it is over.

A Tokyo trial court dismissed a suit Japanese magicians brought against Nippon Television for exposing secrets related gimmicked coins.

Readers of Inside Magic no doubt recall the very strange police raid and seizure of magic coins.  The police charged the magicians with defacing Japanese currency.

Believe Disappoints

The reviews are in on Believe.

Unfortunately, they are not much better than those received during previews.

There was hope here at Inside Magic and likely other magic hubs that changes promised after the limited preview run would help.

Of course with a ten-year run, there should be time to correct mistakes and improve.

The Las Vegas Sun’s article “Illusion is Elusive in Angel’s Believe” begins its scathing review with the terse summation “No wonder.”

Curtis Lovell Escapes

Curtis Lovell is well-known to television audiences.  He cut Paris Hilton in half on her show The Simple Life, provided instructions to escape from handcuffs on the Spike TV show Manswers.  He called out David Blaine and John “I talk to dead people” Edward.

Neither performer had the guts to take him up on a magic duel.

Mr. Lovell made a great impression with his performance of his Cube of Death on the USA Network’s Road Characters.

On the 84th anniversary of Houdini’s passing, Mr. Lovell literally went underground.

Penn and Teller and New Houdini Star

Halloween means different things to different people.

To kids, it means costumes and candy.  To adults, it means candy without the need for costumes.  To magicians — half-way between kids and adults on the maturity scale — it means increased bookings and Houdini.

The Magic Castle sends news of their good work on the streets of Hollywood; where adults of all callings can wear festive and mysterious costumes year-round.